Japanese Garden Sheds

Find out about the basics of Japanese garden sheds and how you can go about making your own...

The Japanese garden shed is the last and final touch that brings a sense of completeness to a Japanese garden. Balance is the key element when it comes to Japanese gardens along with which the use of natural elements such as water and rock is promoted. A Japanese garden shed can give your garden that soothing and harmonious finish that is characteristic of the Japanese style.

When it comes to choosing a Japanese garden shed your choice can depend on a number of things. The time, effort and money that you are willing to put into it are the most important factors.

There are a number of things that you can try out. For instance you can take a traditional shed and add to that certain Japanese elements in order to give it that oriental touch. If the rest of your garden is totally Japanese style then you wouldn’t want to run down the beauty of your garden with an idea as experimental as this. Such an idea would do fine for a garden attempting to look Japanese.

You would however be much better off by creating a basic shed and then doing a complete overhaul of its exterior. The aim would be to make it resemble a Japanese tea house. In this way you can end up with a secure and stable structure that gives off quite an impressive appearance.

Japanese Shed Roof Tiles

If you are really serious about building yourself a Japanese garden shed then you will have to take to traditional carpentry methods and start from scratch. To take this project in your own hands you ought to know about the science of aesthetics regarding Japanese gardens, namely the openness and space features. Entrances, exits and windows all need to be balanced together in order to attain security as well as peace of mind.

There are basically two notable features in a Japanese garden shed and they are the windows and the roof. It is the design of the roof that will determine the extent of the Japanese touch on your shed. Ridged tiles form the basis of the roof with the front ones almost hanging over the edge of the roof.

Once this step has been accomplished one can add on the other elements to enhance the shed. The ornamental additions you make to your shed totally depend on your sense of style. From demonic masks to scrolls and bells you can use a wide variety of oriental garden shed decoration items.

When it comes to the windows of the shed the Shoji design is definitely the most widely used variation. These windows are based on a grid like style and can even be used for sliding doors. They can be constructed out of paper or glass.

When it comes to the basic building material for a Japanese garden shed wood is the most obvious choice. Despite the fact that wood has its disadvantages such as the vulnerability to catch disease, bugs and rot as compared to plastic or metal, there is no other building material that will be able to give you that traditional Japanese look except for wood.